Toy and game maker Hasbro will slash about 1,100 jobs, or 20 percent of its workforce, amid soft holiday sales, according to a company memo.
In a memo to employees on Monday, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said that while the company has made significant strides in the past year, the market conditions are forcing them to take further action.
“But the market headwinds we anticipated have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned,” Cocks wrote in the memo, disclosed in regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “While we’re confident in the future of Hasbro, the current environment demands that we do more, even if these choices are some of the hardest we have to make.”
While the company expected the first three quarters to be difficult as consumers come off of a surge in pandemic-driven spending habits, Cocks said such market conditions persisted into the holiday season and will likely continue into 2024.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs.
The move comes nearly a year after the Rhode Island-based company began to cut 15 percent of its global workforce, citing the need to cut costs. These layoffs, announced last January, were intended to save the company up to $300 million over the next few years.
Hasbro, which is behind popular toys and games like Play-Doh, My Little Pony, and Monopoly, is among several toy companies forced to make changes as they continue to feel the effects of a slowdown in sales following the pandemic spending surge.
Toy sales in the U.S. were down 8 percent from January through August, The Associated Press reported, citing Circana’s most recent data. Shares in Hasbro Inc. also fell nearly 6 percent in after-market trading on Monday, the news wire added.
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